Customer Reviews:
  Excellent July 18, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I bought this camera 4 months ago. The picture quality is excellent with 5MP. The scene selections give lovely shots, specially the ''candles'' selection. Outside pictures are just great. Whenever I send some pictures to my parents overseas, they are like ''wow'' because of the clear, sharp, and high quality. Thanks very much Olympus Stylus500
This camera is phenomenal!! May 6, 2006
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I bought this last year for my birthday, and I love it. My favorite feature is the "Scene" selection. Sunset is great, Portrait is great, Landscape is great! They're all perfect and exactly what they say.
I've never had a camera with a timer, but this one has one for self-portraits, and I love it.
The precision of all photos on this camera are EXCELLENT, and it truly is a "point-and-shoot" digital camera, taking only seconds to take a picture, allowing me to take them quickly.
However, with the Night Mode (open shutter)...and all other non-flash pictures, I would highly reccommend a tripod.
All in all, I would GREATLY reccommend buying this camera!!
 Good at first, but more of a hassle than a good camera March 23, 2006
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
I've had this camera for less than a year and am already dying to replace it. Durable? I laugh. The cover over the zoom is so easily dented. Mine got dented to the point where the cover wouldn't even slide open and they told me it was going to cost a couple hundred dollars to fix. Luckily I found a nice camera repair guy who fixed it, but within a week of getting it back it dented again (and the most harmful circumstances the camera was ever in was being put in my purse). So now I have to force the cover open and hit the camera a few times to get it to close.
On top of this, you cannot change the default size of your pictures, and the default size is HUGE (2560x1920), which is completely unnecessary and takes up far too much space on your computer, not to mention on the camera itself. At that size a 512 MB memory card can only hold 300-some pictures, but at a still large size of 1600x1200 the same memory card can hold 700-some photos. So every time I turn on the camera to take a picture I have to first force the cover open so the zoom can come out, then go through all the menus to change the picture size to something smaller and less space-consuming. At this point whatever I wanted to photograph is probably gone.
If the size issue isn't a problem for you and you find that you have better luck with the body of your camera, then by all means consider this camera. It takes fairly good photos, though I find the color on other digital cameras to be much better and brighter, and the LCD screen is a nice plus though most cameras are coming out with just as nice screens now. The nighttime mode isn't that great either. While it make come with a good number of shooting modes, they really don't do much to change your photo-taking abilities.
And while the sale price is good for the abilities of this camera, you could find better, especially if this camera weren't on sale.
 Great features for a great price March 14, 2006
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This is my third compact digital camera, and I have to say I have finally found one that gives me just about everything I'm looking for. My first, a Fuji Finepix was boxy, had bad shutter lag and had an annoying two-step start-up that was way to confusing to be useful. I bought it nearly four years ago, though, so I can forgive its shortcomings. A year ago, I replaced it with the Sony W1. What a disappointment! The thing that attracted me was the large (for the time) 2.5 inch screen, and it seemed to get good reviews. But not from me. That camera couldn't focus to save its life! While the shutter lag was almost non-existent (a definite plus) the number of pictures in all conditions that came out blurry was unacceptably high. Fortunately, I found someone smitten by the Sony name who was willing to pay me just about what I had paid. Good riddance!
On to the Stylus. Talk about exceeding expectations! I feel like Olympus has been the black sheep of the digicam world - unfairly. This camera does a great job of focusing (especially compared to the Sony), even though it doesn't have an IR focuser. It turns on instantly, has a 2.5 inch screen and it's small enough to slip in my pocket - all things that were important to me.
What I really love is the fact that Olympus is the only company that has gone to the trouble of weather-proofing this camera. I mean, the reason I choose a compact camera over an SLR is that I can take it with me anywhere. When we go hiking, or traveling, or even to kids' birthday parties, the camera is there in my pocket, ready to use. And I don't have to worry about coddling it, and making sure it doesn't get wet. That is my definition of useful technology - it works for you rather than you working for it!
My only complaint with this camer is its shutter lag. It's nowhere near as bad as my old Fuji was, but it's there. I find that if I prefocus (hold the button down half way) that takes care of the problem. But my wife complains about it because she doesn't want to go through that trouble (see my definition of useful technology!).
Overall, I'm very happy with this camera. And relieved to be be out of the overpriced Canon/Sony stranglehold!
 Great pictures, but the video's suck! February 4, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I love the pictures that this little camera takes, it is a perfect camera because it is nice and light and fits in my purse so I can take it everywhere. I have taken some wonderful pictures of my children with it. But any time that I have tryed to take a in door video clip it is so dark you can hardly make it out. If it the video's were clear and not so dark the camera would be perfect and I would give it 5 stars.
|
